Dream of an Emerald Forest
by Corvid Rook
Summary: They had always relied on the Lotus. Trapped in a world of bloody evolution with no one to guide them, these Tenno must choose who to side with. Will they make the right choice?
1. Chapter 1

**Dream of an Emerald Forest – Chapter One – Arrival.**

"Alright, it's official: we passed it." Weiss had been pacing back and forth in front of Ruby in an attempt to get her bearings for the past few minutes. Being launched from a cliff to start her initiation had thrown off her sense of direction, and the dense trees of the emerald forest meant her vision was limited to only a few metres.

She'd still never admit that she had no idea where she was going in front of Ruby, though.

"Weiss, why can't you admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby stood up, trying to mask her annoyance.

"Because I know _exactly_ where we're going! We're going to... to... do you hear that?" Ruby cupped a hand over her ear. Among the sounds of the wildlife, she heard several very distinct snaps, followed shortly by four muted thuds.

"Yeah, branches breaking. Maybe someone else landed near here. Let's investigate!" Before Weiss could react, Ruby had vanished through the bushes, leaving a trail of falling petals in her wake. Weiss sighed in exasperation before setting off after her.

It was only a few minutes before she caught sight of her partner again. Ruby was standing still for once, looking between a pair of trees at something Weiss couldn't see.

"Ruby, who is it?" Weiss knew that it was unlikely to be anyone Ruby had met before, but it seemed to be worth a try. Ruby, however, did not respond. "Ruby?" she asked again. Walking a bit slower than before, Weiss felt the urge to be cautious. She'd heard a Nevermore overhead while she was chasing Ruby, and she didn't want to draw its ire. Coming up beside her, she realised what had caused Ruby to freeze.

Something inhuman was already in the clearing.

They weren't Grimm. She knew that much, but beyond that, she had no idea what they were. While the strange bodies in front of her had the same basic shape as a human, Weiss couldn't dispel the thought that the armour-clad sleepers in front of her were from somewhere beyond Remnant.

"I'm pretty sure that this isn't part of initiation," She broke the silence, shaking Ruby out of her stupor. The ice-cold heiress was not usually prone to stating the obvious, but the four unconscious humanoids they had encountered had shocked her out of her normal, stoic persona.

"What should we do?" Ruby asked. "We can't just leave them here. What if a Grimm shows up?"

"Well, what would you suggest? We can't exactly carry four people. We'd be too burdened to fight even if we could!" Weiss countered. Cold logic beat altruism in her eyes, but Ruby had an alternate solution in mind.

"Then we wake them up." she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Are you insane? We don't know what these things are!" Weiss wasn't keen on the notion of being outnumbered by potentially hostile creatures, especially when she wasn't sure of their origins. A lifetime of conflict and betrayal had taught her to always know about any possible threats.

"It would solve us having to carry them," came Ruby's optimistic response. "And if they've got weapons, we'll have four more allies to fight with!"

"Maybe so, but I still think we should be cautious about this. If we're going to do this, we should only wake them up one at a time." Weiss' suggestion seemed like a good compromise to Ruby. Only waking one up meant they would outnumber it if it turned out to be hostile.

"So… which one do we wake up?" There were four bodies, and each one seemed more bizarre than the last. The first appeared to be male, if the lack of "curvature" was any indication. It was mainly blue, with muddy browns and glowing red dots arranged in patterns down its body. Its shoulders had several rings jutting out perpendicularly to its arms, and its hips were partially covered by a skirt that stretched around the back of its legs. Most bizarre was the helmet, which resembled a snapping turtle with a small crest on the back and a spike where a human's nose would be.

The second was female, and seemed to be modelled after a harlequin. Its colours were abruptly divided between maroon and a purplish blue. The exception to this was the creature's legs and arms, which were both a rich creamy colour from the knees and elbows down. Her knees had armour on them which stretched back up, almost reaching her waist. Her helmet had two curled spines pointing outwards on either side, while the front had a pale round mask with two unblinking lights where her eyes should be.

The third was another male, and definitely embodied the physical might of the group. Its torso was top-heavy to an almost absurd degree, with so much muscle between its shoulders that it took them both a moment to work out that the flat topped wedge in the midst of this mass was actually its head. Its arms were similarly bulky, with thorn-like spikes growing out near the hands, but didn't share the reddish-brown colour of its main body, instead being a bony white. It also had what looked like several strips of its skin hanging freely from its abdomen. Finally, its legs were wide and flat above the knees. They were a dark, grayish colour.

The last of them was androgynous, with a body that seemed split between two halves. Half of it was white, and the other half was black. The abdomen was covered by a set of stretched rings, like a ribcage. Similar rings went through its upper arms, while flowing fabric draped from below its elbows. The same kind of fabric came from in front of its hips, much like the brute. Its helmet had a dull reflective crystal embedded in the front, with two large horns stretching vertically from the top.

"I vote for the Jester!" said Ruby. "She looks fun!" She moved to start waking it up, but Weiss put a hand on her arm, stopping her.

"I'm not so sure about that," said Weiss, "It seems like it would be less… predictable." Something about the mask was unsettling Weiss. It reminded her of the Grimm masks the White Fang were notorious for wearing during their raids on her father's company. "Perhaps we could wake the blue one instead?"

Ruby was many things. Brash, bold, and prone to acting without thinking, but she was also considerate. Weiss was obviously unnerved by the masked creature, so Ruby took heed of her suggestion, and moved to the turtle-headed one. "So… how do we do this?" she asked. Weiss' response was to put her hand on her brow, covering her face with her palm.

"It was your idea! I thought you knew!" she shouted, exasperated once again by her partner's dim-wittedness. She quickly realised her mistake, and moved her hand to cover her lips. A moment passed, but the creatures did not stir. She let her hand fall back to her side.

"Doesn't your dad run a big military company? I thought these were some kind of upgrade to the Atlesian Knights." Ruby's voice wasn't as quiet as Weiss would have liked, but it didn't seem to disturb the sleepers.

"Ok, first: the Schnee Dust Corporation isn't a military company, we just sponsor the Atlesian forces. Second: Look at these things! Do they look like our tech to you?"

"I just thought they were some kind of prototype."

"Well, they're not. We have no idea what these things are. We don't even know if they're sentient!" Weiss' voice raised at the end of her tirade, but once she stopped speaking, she realised that there was another noise coming from below them. The creature was beginning to stir. "Uh… what do we do?"

"Hide!" Ruby said. She had spotted a bush nearby, which they quickly hid in. Weiss wasn't happy with the way the sticks and leaves prodded at her dress, but she didn't want to risk revealing their location by objecting. Looking to Ruby, she saw that her partner was peering through the foliage, watching the events unfold outside.

The creature was on its feet, a warm amber glow surrounding it. The aura swiftly changed to a cold, pale blue before fading. Red electricity began to arc between the rings on its shoulders. As it stood up to its full height (a solid eight feet, by Weiss' estimates), its arms suddenly stiffened, before it hunched forward with them outstretched. A stream of red sparks shot out from its hands, falling to the ground, before it loosened its arms again and stood back up. It slowly turned its head, seemingly surveying its surroundings. When it faced them its gaze seemed to linger for a few seconds, before it turned to its sleeping brethren.

If it saw Weiss and Ruby huddled in the bush, it gave no indication of it. Weiss wasn't sure how she felt about that. It staggered forward, before steadying itself enough to walk with confidence. It walked over to the sleepers with seemingly effortless strides, but Weiss saw something else. Years of training in how to act in front of nobles and delegates made her realise that this creature was not simply walking without thought. Every step was measured, every footfall precisely calculated. Within a second, it had crossed the short distance between itself and the androgynous sleeper. While they didn't know what they were expecting, what happened next caught both Ruby and Weiss off guard.

The creature stretched out its open hand, with its palm facing down over the other creature's chest.

 **Author's Note: Ok, here's my first attempt at a fanfic. Truth be told, I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it, but hopefully I can deliver something enjoyable to my (likely very tiny) readership. Feel free to leave suggestions for both ways to improve my writing and any possible directions to take the plot.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dream of an Emerald Forest – Chapter 2 – Awakening**

 _Wake up, Tenno._

 _Three words. Small words. Insignificant to all but a few._

 _They define my life._

 _I slept too long, and the world turned to chaos. None were there to keep the storm in check._

 _So much was lost. It ravaged the Origin system, and I was asleep._

 _She called to me. She cracked open the golden egg, and I was awake._

 _Something went wrong. The lure of sleep called to me once more, and I was absorbed._

 _I am trapped in my own mind. Her voice sings to me no more._

 _There is no call to wake me._

 _I am falling into the darkness. I am without fear, but I am drowning._

 _Something calls to me._

 _I am rising into the light. I am without fear, but I am burning._

 **:-:-:**

From the bushes, Ruby could see the strange beast's next action clearly. Its outstretched hand glowed green for a second, before the glow dissipated into a mist which fell down to the one on the ground. It did this for around ten seconds, before returning its hand to its side. It then proceeded to stare at the body.

"What was that?" Ruby only barely caught her partner's whispered question. She was fearful that it might hear them.

"I don't know," she spoke in response, "but I think it was giving it an aura transplant of some kind."

"Aura doesn't look like green smoke, you dunce!" Weiss' frustration made Ruby cringe, but she'd managed to keep her voice down. Looking back through the bushes, she could see the monochrome one beginning to stir.

"So much for only waking one of them up," she muttered to herself.

The black and white creature was much slower to rise than its comrade. It moved with symmetry, no limb taking any more strain than its partner. In the time it had taken to stand up, the electric one had moved over to the brutish one and started spraying the green smoke on it. Upon drawing itself to its full height, it brought its hands in front of it to make a small circle. One hand over, the other under, with the fingers forming the outer edge. It stood in this posture for a moment, before moving over to the Jester.

Ruby was terrified. Their plan to keep the creatures manageable had failed, and she somehow knew that she and Weiss would be unable to fight them all. Sneaking away also wasn't a possibility. Other than the tree just behind them, there was nothing nearby that could serve as concealment. The muscly one was stirring, and Monochrome was beginning to revive the Jester. The Storm was keeping watch from the edge of the clearing, and had a clear view of their hiding spot. If they left the bush, they would be spotted. " _I don't see how this situation can get any worse!"_ she thought.

Then she heard a Beowolf's roar. One of the most common creatures of Grimm, and little more than cannon fodder for a huntress of any calibre. However, most huntresses didn't have to remain concealed in a bush while fighting. The creatures apparently heard it too, as they all turned to face the source of the noise. The brute was still slowly getting to its feet, but it turned its head.

This was their chance. Ruby and Weiss nodded to each other, then broke their way out of the bush. A quick dash behind the nearest trees, and they suddenly felt a lot safer with some solid cover between them and the creatures. Peeking around the tree's wide trunk, Ruby saw that the monochrome one had returned its attention to the last creature on the ground. Finishing its weird smoky ritual with the Jester, it returned its hands to their previous position.

The roars were getting closer now, and several others had joined the chorus. Ruby could tell that they were only seconds away, and the creatures seemed to realise this too. The brute advanced to the front of the group, while the two others moved to shield the one still on the ground.

The brute was bracing itself for combat. Its arms went in front of its faceplate, and it hunched over forwards to lower its centre of mass. Its legs spread out slightly, one further forward than the other.

It held this posture for five agonising seconds, then the Beowolves arrived.

Three of them, all snarling and gnashing at him. One, more cautious than the rest, had tufts of burnt fur all over its body. Ruby realised that this particular Grimm was one that she and Weiss had seen before. Looking over to Weiss, she saw her glaring back.

"This is what happens when you attack out of turn," she whispered, "The survivors come back to haunt you!"

"Well I'm sorry for trying to kill them for you!" Ruby whispered in response, before turning back to look at the action.

The brute wasn't attacking the Grimm. This confused Ruby, as her instincts were screaming at her, telling her to charge in and defeat them. Then she noticed the tension in the brute's stance. It wasn't just standing passively.

It was waiting.

They struck first. The leftmost beowolf had moved to the side to try and blindside the brute, and it lunged with an arm slashing out at the creature's throat. The strike never connected however, as the brute had caught it with a gauntleted fist. What happened next was difficult for Ruby to see, but the result was a beowolf with a broken arm hurtling towards its burnt companion. Before the last standing Grimm could muster an attack, the brute charged forward with force that would move mountains. Its fist became encased in stone, and crushed the beowolf's head to the ground. Without pausing for breath, its second arm whipped out to grab the wolf by the scruff of its neck and hold it up for the world to see.

Ruby was taken aback by the speed and viciousness of the attack, but seeing the aftermath nearly made her lose her breakfast. A quick glance over confirmed that Weiss was in a similar situation. Most of the weapons she knew of used either bullets or blades to defeat the Grimm. While there were exceptions, this meant that most Grimm kills were relatively clean. Not this one.

The beowolf's bony faceplate had been smashed inwards, with fragments of rock and bone jutting out at nauseating angles. There was nothing clean about this kill, and it was fortunate that the Grimm's body began to dissolve into petals at that point. The brute (the moniker being even more appropriate than she first thought) caught some of the petals for a few seconds, before discarding them and the decaying body.

It turned to face the remaining beowolves. Ruby wasn't looking anymore, but she heard the crunches. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the burnt wolf running away into the forest. She waited until the sounds of fighting had stopped, then peeked her head around the tree again.

It took her only a moment to realise that the brute was staring right back.

 **Author's Note: Chapter two already? Sometimes I surprise even myself. How're Ruby and Weiss going to get out of this one?**

 **Also, ":-:-:" is my way of indicating a scene break/perspective switch.**

 **Since a few of you asked, the Tenno are (in order of initial description) Volt, Mirage, Atlas and Equinox. All of them have their default colour schemes and appearances, so no syandanas here. Their weapons will be revealed at a later point.**

 **Finally, I want to sincerely thank every single person who has read this story. 10 faves in half as many days? You indulge me. Please indulge me further by telling me what I'm doing wrong in the review section!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby was almost paralysed with fear. The creatures were looking at her, and a few bobs of her head confirmed that they were tracking her movements. She felt that trying to run would just lead to a quick demise when it caught up with her. Instead, she did something that she felt would at least grant her a modicum of mercy from them.

She stepped out from behind the tree. Weiss was cringing, but she did the same nonetheless. The monochrome one stepped towards them, confidence showing in its posture. It stared at Ruby. One second passed. Then two, then three. It wasn't moving. Ruby decided to try speaking.

"Um… hello?" The creature didn't respond. "Can you understand me?" It tilted its head, and the others did the same. One second later, it nodded. "Okay… can you speak?" A shake of the head later, Ruby decided to ask a more pressing question. "What are you?" The creature turned to its brethren, almost as if an inaudible conversation was taking place. A few seconds later, it turned back to her and gave an ambiguous shrug.

"As engaging as this discussion is, we really should get going. Those artefacts aren't going to retrieve themselves." Weiss chimed in, looking disparagingly at the girl she was stuck with for the coming year. However, she couldn't hide her lingering fear, and her voice cracked, which Ruby picked up on.

"Weiss, I don't think these things are going to hurt us. They almost seem like they're lost." Ruby heard a Nevermore's cry in the background. "Besides, I think I have an idea for catching up with the others."

 **:-:-:**

"Okay, the Kingdom of Vale is in that direction," Weiss pointed towards the city limits. "There will be a castle on a clifftop on the far side of the city. We'll be in that castle, so if you make your way there, we'll be able to help you when you arrive. Understood?" The four creatures nodded in unison, before dropping down from the high branches they were perched on to the ground. They looked back up to her before walking off toward the city's boundaries.

Weiss turned to her partner, who was trying to work out a trajectory. She felt the need to express her confidence in the plan.

"You are aware that this is a terrible idea, right?"

 **:-:-:**

By the time the Tenno reached the city, the sun had reached the later stages of setting. They had scaled the city's smooth outer wall with relative ease, despite their disorientation. Now they were faced with a different obstacle. There was a trio of guards in between them and the main city. The trick surviving in an unfamiliar land with limited supplies was to ensure that any threats were either neutralised, or unaware of their existence. The former was undesirable, as they didn't want to burn bridges with a potential ally. The latter was impossible, as the alleyways would not provide enough cover for them to pass by undetected.

As it so happens, "impossible" was a Tenno specialty. An alarm went off in a nearby store, just around the corner. The three guards looked to each other before running toward the noise, unaware of the four figures slinking into the alley behind them. They also moved toward the alarms, sprinting together in near silence. What they saw as they crept out of the alley shocked them.

The store's front window had been smashed outwards, and lying in the shards was one of the guards. A quick glance at his vital readings indicated that he was dead. The sounds of a struggle inside were cause enough for the Tenno to take action. Equinox took out her weapon.

The Daikyu was unique among the Tenno's selection of bows. It had been designed to emphasise the importance of drawing a shot to its fullest tension before releasing the arrow. As such, it was well suited for the support of allied combatants through the elimination of dangerous enemies. Equinox favoured this weapon, as she could force a target to sleep while she lined up the perfect shot.

It was with this in mind that she rounded the corner and exposed herself to the four hostiles in the store. The two remaining guards were being held at swordpoint with their backs to the window. This was good for Equinox, as their presence gave her a degree of concealment. The hostiles had the appearance of Old Earth gangsters, with matching black pinstripe suits, tinted red sunglasses and hats that bore a resemblance to a Trilby. Two of them were armed with boxy grey pistols, and the two with the guards had katanas, which had been coloured bright red. One of the pistoleers was holding the shopkeeper at gunpoint, while the other appeared to be stealing some kind of chemical from the dispensers on the sides of the wall.

Equinox drew her bow, feeling the tension in the string. One step to the side brought her in line perfectly with her target.

She released.

The arrow sped through the air, reaching the store's back wall before the mobsters could blink. On the way, it had gone straight through one of the swordsmen's heads, before piercing through the heart of the one holding up the storekeeper. Before the survivors could work out what happened, she drew and loosed another arrow. This one went between the two guards heads, nailing the second gunman to the wall. A brief struggle was all he could put up before he succumbed to his wound.

By this point, the last swordsman had seen her, so she decided to do something special. Holstering her bow, she instead drew her melee weapon: the Lacera. Half-scissor blade, half whip, and constantly electrified, it was a useful tool in situations like this. She lashed out with the barb on the end of the whip, snagging the gangster's leg. A sharp pull sent him flying toward her, bowling over the two guards in the process. This would help reduce the number of witnesses. As the mobster came closer, she opened the scissor blades of her weapon.

The mobster barely had time to scream.

Once he was dealt with, Equinox spared one last glance into the store. The guards were picking themselves up, and the shopkeeper, a young woman with strawberry blonde hair, held up a small device between herself and the Tenno. The sound of a photo shutter was heard, and Equinox ran back into the alley. Reconvening with her siblings, she sheathed her blade. Without a word, they ran back through the alleyway.

They would soon make it to the castle.

 **:-:-:**

 **Author's Note: So… how was that for my second fight scene? Should I raise the story's age rating? Am I capable of writing anything other than a Tenno curbstomp?**

 **Also, yes, I'm sorry for the extreme delay between this chapter and the previous one. First, I had rehearsals, then I wounded my knee in a performance and had to heal, then I had a horrible case of procrastination.**

 **On top of that, when the Second Dream hit it pretty much dashed all of the plans I had, so I've had to rewrite my planned story to account for the revelations of that quest. For reference, the Second Dream is canon to this story, but the Tenno seen thus far have not completed the quest. So (for now, at least), there shouldn't be any spoilers for that.**

 **Oh, and the RWBY Volume 3 finale. I'm only crying a little.**

 **Anyway, I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Inspiration comes and goes for me, and it's not always the right inspiration for this story. That said, I will persist. I will triumph! I WILL HAVE A TVTROPES RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS FANFIC!**

 **Ahem.**

 **I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ruby was feeling a mix of anxiety and irritation. As soon as she and her newly-named team had reached their dorm, she had explained what had happened before they'd met at the temple. Specifically, the four creatures that had gored the Beowolves. Blake had found them intriguing, but Yang had something else on her mind.

"So… were they hot?"

Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister's antics, while Weiss seemed to be trying to catch flies.

"We told you about some dangerous, inhuman beasts, and the first thing you ask is _if they're hot!?_ "

"Well, inhuman may be a bit of a stretch. From the way you describe them, they seem to just be Remnans in armour." Blake's observation brought a series of enthusiastic nods from Ruby, which quickly died down when she realised that no one else was nodding.

"Well, if it is armour, it's not like anything the SDC has made. They almost appear organic. They also didn't speak, even when fighting." Weiss crossed her arms. "Furthermore, they were supposed to be here by now. We gave them directions."

"Yeah! We gave them directions to… the… school." Ruby trailed off. An awkward silence followed. "We didn't give them our room number."

"We didn't know our room number!" said Weiss. "They'll probably just head to the courtyard and wait. We can find them in the morning."

"You're right. It's too dark for us to be searching for them, and I think we all need a rest after today's fight." Almost as if to drive the point home, Blake let out a small yawn before getting into her bed. Yang soon did the same, climbing into her own and lying face down. A few seconds later, snoring began to emanate from her pillow.

Ruby and Weiss shrugged, before getting into their own respective beds. Putting on her sleep mask, Ruby looked across at the rest of her team, before lying down fully.

"Goodnight, Team RWBY." She whispered, before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

 **:-:-:**

Meanwhile, near the school's boundaries, there was a small group of Tenno. The girls' directions would not actually lead them to a suitable meeting point, so they had taken the precaution of tagging them with a waypoint. Once her location had settled in the direction of the city, they had set off towards their meeting. Climbing up the outer walls of the castle, they saw a placard identifying it as a school: Beacon Academy.

The waypoint was in one of the buildings, so they moved through the shadows towards it. If there were any security systems in the courtyard, they would see little more than a blur as the Tenno sprinted toward the dorm. Coming up to the dorm, Mirage climbed up the smooth walls to reach the girls' room. The window was slightly ajar, which was all she needed to get in. Gripping the windowsill with one hand, she teased her fingers under the window, pulling it wide enough to peek her head through.

There were four beds, all of them occupied by sleeping figures. A cursory glance showed that her intrusion had not roused any of them. She slipped into the room without a sound, before leaning out of the window to give the all clear to her siblings. The three outside climbed up in sequence. First, Volt sprang up into the room with a few short jumps, his skirt billowing in the wind. Next, Equinox started climbing the nearby tree, walking across its branches into the room as though they were solid ground. Finally, Atlas took the direct route, simply climbing up from window to window until he rolled into the room with a quiet thud. The four glanced around at the four slumbering girls, before they each knelt down at the foot of a bed.

 **:-:-:**

Sitting in his tower, Ozpin watched the external security feed for the dorm rooms. Closing the feed, he let out a sigh before bringing out his scroll. On it, he typed a single message, to be sent to his colleagues.

 _New pieces join the board._

 **:-:-:**

Ruby was feeling much better when she woke up. The pain from the Nevermore fight had subsided to a dull ache, and the dream she had had was a rather pleasant one, though she couldn't remember any details.

She decided to simply lay there, slowly rousing herself as the sunlight started to flood the room. Sometime in her sleep, her mask had fallen off, so when the light reached her eyes, she fluttered them open with some mild annoyance. A two-eyed mask was right in front of her face, looking at her.

Ruby launched herself backwards at an impressive speed. Her movement was arrested, however, when her head collided with the wall. She rubbed the back of her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and realised that the noise had caused her team to begin stirring. She also saw that the masked creature was not alone, as the others of its kind were each kneeling in front of one of her teammates' beds.

"Um… Hi?" she said, unsure about her situation, and slightly unnerved by the blank look it was giving her. "I… see you managed to find us. How?" It tilted its head slightly, but made no sound.

By this point, Blake had woken up, and was wiping the grit from her eyes. With one last rub, they were cleared, and she opened them. She took one look at the creature at the foot of her bed, and cried out in shock.

 **:-:-:**

Half an hour later, Team RWBY was up and dressed in their Beacon uniforms, and the beasts were similarly roused. They were silent, standing at opposite ends of the room, trying to see who would act first. Yang broke the silence.

"So, do you come here often?"

"Yang! There is a time and a place for that, and it isn't now." Weiss was taken aback by the blonde bruiser's audacity. The four creatures were in a similar state, if their slight twitch was anything to go by.

"We should find a way for them to speak to us. Based on their reaction to Yang, and your last encounter with them, they can understand us." Blake looked thoughtful for a moment, before speaking up again. "Ruby, could you give them your scroll?"

"I… guess I could do that. All in the name of peaceful contact!" Ruby pulled her newly-acquired scroll out of her pocket, before tentatively walking over and offering it up to them. "The password is-"

Before she could finish, the monochrome one, who seemed to be female, leaned over and plucked it out of her hands. She opened the scroll out into its expanded form, before holding her hand over the screen. The password entry flickered, before unlocking and bringing up a text box. A series of smooth lines and sigils appeared, before consolidating into a more understandable form: "Tenno"

"Is… that what you are? 'Tenno'?" Ruby asked. The monochrome one gave a sharp nod, before she pointed to herself while another set of symbols appeared and translated: "Ehkooihnawks".

"Ehkooihnawks… Equinox! Is that your name? Equinox?" Another nod, and another set of symbols appeared while she pointed to the brute: "Atlas".

"Wait, Atlas? You mean the kingdom?" Weiss said, slightly confused by this. The Brute shook his head in response, before pointing at himself and the screen displaying his apparent name. "Well, that's probably going to get confusing."

Another set of symbols coalesced into Valic, and Equinox gestured to the jester: "Mihrazh".

"Mirage, I'm guessing?" Yang piped up, earning an enthusiastic nod from the Tenno in question. Somehow, the static mask seemed to show more expression than it had any right to. The final creature stepped forward, with one last set of symbols forming a single short word: "Volt".

"Where are you from?" Ruby asked, walking back to the rest of her team. "Also, there should be a text-to speech option somewhere."

Equinox nodded her thanks, before translating another set of symbols. An artificial voice read out the result. It sounded slightly tinny, and mispronounced some of the more obtuse letter combinations, but it got the message across.

"Origin."

"Origin?" Ruby asked.

"We come from Origin."

"Is that a kingdom?" Yang asked.

"Origin is a system."

"That doesn't help."

"We will show you." With that, Mirage knelt down onto the floor, while Atlas closed the curtains, shrouding them in darkness. Suddenly, she lit up, projecting images of planets onto the walls and ceiling, before they peeled off and became three-dimensional. Ruby counted out fourteen different worlds, all unique.

" _Woah…_ " was all she could say, as the names of the worlds were translated and displayed. Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Sedna, Phobos, Uranus, Europa, Eris, Neptune, Ceres and Pluto. Weiss chose to ask several questions that were on all of their minds.

"You live there? You can travel out into space? How? Dust doesn't work outside of the atmosphere! How did you get aroun-?" She wanted to ask more questions, but she was hushed by Blake.

"Dust doesn't work outside of Remnant, so we can assume that they didn't develop technology that relied on it." She turned to Equinox. "In fact, you don't have any traces of it on your armour, so I would guess that you haven't heard of it."

Equinox gave another nod. "Correct."

"Do you have Grimm on those worlds?" Ruby asked.

"No."

"Then it must be quite peaceful there, right?"

"No."

Ruby was puzzled by this, and was about to ask for more information, when a knock came from the door. Instantly, the illusion shattered, and the four Tenno hid themselves beside the door, so that when it opened it would cover them. Mirage put a finger to where her lips would be, and pointed to the door. Ruby took the hint, and went to open it.

Standing outside was none other than Vomit Boy himself, Jaune Arc. He started a bit at the door opening, before regaining his limited composure.

"Hey, Ruby. What was with that lightshow?" he asked.

"Um…" She ducked her head back into the room and looked around for a second before continuing. "Weiss was just showing us some of her glyphs. Yes! Glyphs! That's what we were doing."

Jaune was slightly confused by her response, but decided to bring up his reason for coming to their room. "So… do you have the timetable? We heard there was a class this morning, but we don't know when or where."

"Sure, let me just check." She then proceeded to shut the door in his face. Jaune could still hear her through the door, though their voices were muffled.

"Weiss, when's our first lesson?"

"I thought _you_ were supposed to know that, _team leader_."

"Well, forgive me for being a bit distracted by other things right now!" There was a faint sound of rustling paper.

"Here we are, first lesson. Professor Port, Grimm Studies, Room B14, scheduled for… Nine o'clock."

"Wait, did you say nine?"

"Uuuum…"

"It's 8:55, you dunce!" There was a short pause, before the room seemed to be filled with the sounds Jaune would normally associate with a hurricane. He'd heard what he needed, and was hurrying back to his own team's room when door opened again, disgorging a team of somewhat flustered girls into the corridor. Three quarters of the team took off at a sprint, while Ruby lingered to call back into the room.

"Don't break anything!" With that, she ran after her teammates while the door was still closing.

Jaune opened the door to his own team's dorm. Ren was sitting quietly next to Nora, who was bouncing on her bed. Pyrrha was watching them from across the room, with only a small smirk betraying her amusement.

"Guys, we need to get to classes. We've got about four minutes!" With that, all three of them sprang into action, Nora managing to land on the ground with an impressive flip. The team ran out, trying to get to their lesson on time.

However, a small detail was bugging Jaune. Beacon's doors used an old-fashioned spring based system to keep its doors shut. So how did Team RWBY's door close on its own?

 **:-:-:**

 **So, I've increased the chapter length to 2000 words in accordance with the most common criticism of the story. Is this a good length, or should I increase it further?**

 **Was Team RWBY in character? Did I portray the Tenno in a satisfactory manner? I feel that they would endeavour to make contact in such a way if they were cut off from the Lotus. After all, it pays to have allies.**

 **On that note, the distorted names for the Tenno is the result of doing a literal phonetic translation from the Tennobet, in case you were wondering. The sole exception is the word "Tenno", which should be phonetically written as "Tehno". I couldn't work out a way to justify the girls changing the word to fit the accurate spelling, so I left it out.**

 **The original draft of this chapter had the Tenno meet Cinder before entering Beacon, but I realised quite quickly that it didn't make any sense. She wouldn't risk her plans by exposing herself directly to such an unknown factor, and she's mostly sticking to the shadows at this point in the series anyway.**

 **Regardless, please leave a review, tell me what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and any suggestions for directions to take the story (No weapon suggestions though. I already have a set loadout for each Tenno).**


	5. Cancellation

I'm sorry to say this, but Dream of an Emerald Forest will not be continuing.


End file.
